I remember when I would jump out of the car when arriving at church and run to my classroom as a young child. My father was the preacher and my mother the church pianist and choir director, so my sister and myself had pretty much the run of the place. Frequently the parsonage where we lived was next door to the church. Not a care in the world. We never thought about some sort of Child Check-In System for the Sunday School. Fast Forward fifty years . . . . . .

It is a sign of the times we live in that most parents like the idea that their children are being cared for in a secure location and that special measures are being utilized to keep them secure while the parents are away from them. We are going to have to live with that as a basic necessity in childcare.

Given that we need a system, let’s look at the basic mechanics.

Check-In -

1. Register child in system
2. Exchange Credentials -
3. Unique Identifier Exchange and record -
4. Print 2 tags/stickers and affix to Child and Parent
5. Check child into room

Check-Out

1. Match parent tag with child tag upon Exit.

Pretty Simple, Right? Not so fast . . .  What if you have to evacuate in the middle of the service?

How will you reunite all of the children to their parents?

Did you make a list/log of the children as they entered the room that you could take with you outside in an evacuation? (Check-In step 3)

Here's a pretty cool addition to a sticker system I saw implemented at one of our church clients;

Instead of printing just TWO stickers; print THREE. Use the third sticker to stick on a classroom Log Book.

Initial beside each sticker as the child is matched with the parent at the classroom door for checkout.

If there is an emergency, take the log book/sheets with you. This is a list of children in the room and a way to check them out after the evacuation.

Making Safety Easier . . .